1

Evaluation of Woodcraft Folk

TREE Project

Year 1 Report

Cadence Works and LandE Cadence Works and LandE Cadence Works and LandE Cadence Works and LandE

June June June June 2010201020102010

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Contents

2 Introduction and background ......................................................................................................... 3

2.1 Introduction and scope of the evaluation ............................................................................. 3

2.2 Background ............................................................................................................................ 3

3 Methodology and evaluation work undertaken ............................................................................. 5

3.1 Methodology .......................................................................................................................... 5

3.2 Evaluation Activities ............................................................................................................... 5 4 Review of Evaluation information and data ................................................................................... 7

4.1 The Group Survey .................................................................................................................. 7

4.1.1 What did we want to find out? ......................................................................... 7

4.1.2 The audience for the questionnaire .................................................................. 7

4.1.3 Survey format .................................................................................................... 7

4.1.4 Mailing process, timetable and response rate.................................................. 7

4.1.5 Response ........................................................................................................... 8

4.1.6 Key findings ....................................................................................................... 8

4.2 Project records, reports etc ................................................................................................. 12

4.2.1 Membership Statistics (2009) ......................................................................... 13

4.3 Stakeholder interviews ........................................................................................................ 15

4.4 Shadowing ............................................................................................................................ 20

4.4.1 Impressions ..................................................................................................... 20

4.4.2 Some similarities: ............................................................................................ 21

5 The role of partnership working ................................................................................................... 23 5.1 The TREE Partnership ........................................................................................................... 23

5.2 Project Management ........................................................................................................... 23

5.3 The TREE Steering Group – evaluation session.................................................................... 24

5.4 Project Management – Conclusion ...................................................................................... 26

6 TREE’s contribution to the BIG Lottery Programme Aims ............................................................ 27

6.1 BIG Young Peoples Fund – Programme outcomes .............................................................. 27

6.2 National Significance (NS) .................................................................................................... 29

7 Progress in relation to 5 project outcomes .................................................................................. 32

8 Detailed progress against project plan and milestones for year 1 ............................................... 36

8.1 Project Management ........................................................................................................... 36 8.2 Marketing and Communications ......................................................................................... 36

8.3 Outcome 1 – More young people involved with Woodcraft Folk ....................................... 39

8.4 Outcome 2 – More disabled young people involved with Woodcraft Folk ......................... 39

8.5 Outcome 3 – nvolvement of young people in Woodcraft Folk decision making................. 40

8.6 Outcome 4 – More young people involved in volunteering roles ....................................... 40

9 Conclusions and Recommendations ............................................................................................. 42

9.1 Strengths and Achievements ............................................................................................... 42

9.2 Challenges and Risks ............................................................................................................ 42

9.3 Recommendations ............................................................................................................... 44

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2 Introduction and background

2.1 Introduction and scope of the evaluation

Cadence Works in association with Leisure and the Environment (LandE) were appointed in

March 2009 to undertake a 5 year evaluation of the BIG lottery funded Training,

Representation, Equality and Engagement (TREE) project.

The scope of the year one evaluation is far reaching. It’s summarised below, and we’ve

indicated which section of this report addresses each of these areas in turn.

1. TREE’s contribution to the BIG lottery programme aims - this is covered in Section 6.

2. Progress achieved in relation to the 5 target outcomes agreed with the BIG lottery - see

Section 7

3. Progress in relation to project milestones and the projected year 1 work programme -

see Section 8

4. The role of partnership working and the value of working with others - see Section 5

5. Recommendations for year 2 and the future development of TREE can be found in

Section 9.

Sections 1 – 3 set out in some detail the methodology for our evaluation and an overview of

the information we’ve gathered which informs sections 4 – 7. We’ve included the results of

the group survey in an appendix (as it’s quite a long document) and can also provide the

writes ups of the stakeholder interviews if required.

We would like to highlight the fact that, while part of our evaluation has been about

measuring progress against key outcomes and targets within the original BIG project

proposals, another task is to identify the potential to adjust the programme to meet

circumstances that have arise during year one of the project.

Where we have any queries for the TREE Team or specific recommendations that are

already made within the text we have highlighted them in box as below:

Suggestion or recommendation

2.2 Background

The TREE project aims to engage young people, aged 10-18 years, in developing new

volunteer roles within Woodcraft Folk that support young people to influence policy,

develop projects and contribute to decision making at a local, regional and national level.

The TREE project is committed to the delivery of 5 key outcomes:

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1. 8,600 young people will have fun, develop skills, confidence and take action on their

concerns and issues through engagement with Woodcraft Folk groups over a 5 year

period.

2. Young people with disabilities will have more social opportunities to interact with

their peers through the increased understanding and access at Woodcraft Folk group

activities provided during the first 2 years of the project.

3. 130 young people will develop communication, committee and project management

skills by becoming more active in the democratic and decision making structures of

Woodcraft Folk on a regional and national level, and directing the organisation

throughout this project.

4. Provide 2,000 young people with challenging experiences, training and opportunities

for accreditation through the development of 5 new supported volunteering roles

(quality champions, young trainers, mentors, campaigners and Local Action group

members) , as well as increasing support for existing volunteer roles (group helpers

and leaders, committee members and event organisers) by 2014.

5. Increase youth participation by enabling others to replicate our good practice,

through collecting and sharing our participation experience amongst our 400

member groups and 230 external organisations.

The project business plan breaks down these outcomes and includes a series of actions and

targets associated with it providing important milestones and performance indicators that

provide a useful starting point in terms of evaluation.

The project started in April 2009 and is funded with a grant from the Young People’s Fund 2

of the BIG Lottery to run for 5 years until 2014. The original intention was that the project

would be delivered by the Woodcraft Folk in partnership with 3 key partners: the National

Youth Agency (NYA); the Co-operative College; and the National Deaf Children’s Society

(NDCS).

The partnership with the NYA has ended at the end of the first year’s work. This was due to

a change in the NYA’s fee-charging structure which priced the small proportion of their work

scheduled after 31st

March 2010 beyond the project’s means. A relationship with the

National Council for Voluntary Youth Service (NCVYS) has been developed over the year and

it is planned for the NCVYS to be an ongoing partner for the duration of the project.

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3 Methodology and evaluation work undertaken

3.1 Methodology

We have been careful to ensure that the evaluation has engaged with project staff, project

partners, young people, and local groups (including adult volunteers).

We have collected information and data from the following sources:

o Internal membership data and participation records

o National Woodcraft Group Survey

o Face to face and telephone interviews with all stakeholders

o Young people involved in the TREE Steering Group, Youth Comms Group, and the

five shadow groups

o Interviews with project partners

o Interviews with Woodcraft Folk management and TREE project staff

o Interviews with Woodcraft Folk General Council members

3.2 Evaluation Activities

Our evaluation activity over the year has included:

o Meeting in Leicester with Debs McCahon (Membership Development Manager) and

a voluntary Woodcraft Folk leader from Hinckley in March 2009 to finalise the

evaluation work programme and contract arrangements.

o Visit to WCF Annual Gathering on 14th

June 2009 to meet the shadow groups and to

explain what the shadowing process will involve

o Meeting with TREE project team in Sheffield on 22nd

September 2009 to discuss

initial work undertaken by the TREE Team and to explain the overall evaluation

process

o Shadow Group Visits:

o Exeter – 15th

October 2009

o Ealing – 9th

November 2009

o Sheffield – 26th

November 2009

o Coventry East – 5th

December 2009

o Leazes (Newcastle) – 18th

February 2010

o Stakeholder Meetings (as below)

Who Organisation/Role When

Kirsty Palmer WCF General Secretary 25th

Nov 09

Debs McCahon WCF Membership Development Manager 9th

Dec 09

Chris Pyke WCF Training and Quality Manager 14th

Dec 09

Rebecca Mattingly TREE Development Officer – Youth Empowerment 24th

Nov 09

Chloe Darlington TREE Development Officer – Communications 24th

Nov 09

Tom Searle WCF General Council 25th

Nov 09

Jack Brown WCF General Council and TREE Steering Group 24th

Nov 09

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Kit Jones WCF General Council 23rd

Nov 09

Jenny Wilmott National Council of Voluntary Youth services (NCVYS) 24th

Nov 09

Hayley Jarvis National Deaf Children's Society 14th

Dec 09

Jake Manning NYA / Leicester 21st

Dec 10

Julie Thorpe Co-operative College 11th

Jan 10

Youth members TREE Steering Group 16th

Jan 10

Youth members TREE Youth Comms Group 20th

Feb 10

o Gathering and analysis of administration records, reports, TREE project minutes, etc

o Review of Year one work programme, Gantt chart and project milestones.

o Development and agreement of Woodcraft Folk group questionnaire; distribution,

collection and analysis.

Using the information we’ve collected through the evaluation activities described above we

have reviewed progress in year one taking into account the work programme and

milestones submitted to BIG and TREE’s success over the year in working towards the

achievement of its 5 key project outcomes.

For future years it could be a good idea if the TREE project team could supply Cadence/LandE

with a list and contact details for all the individual groups that have had direct contact with

TREE or the TREE Team members. We could then devise a method for getting targeted

feedback on benefits, quality of service etc

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4 Review of Evaluation information and data

4.1 The Group Survey1

4.1.1 What did we want to find out?

The Survey questions were designed to find out from local groups what currently happens

in the areas of activity that the TREE project aims to have an impact in. The focus of the

survey in year 1 was less on the how change is happening (or not) and more on discovering

reasons why the groups respond as they do.

This will be important to explore as the project progresses and as we assess whether the

ways that TREE is setting about achieving the things it wants to achieve are working well.

Based on our thinking above, the annual survey will always include questions relating to the

5 key TREE aims.

There were other important considerations about this first year’s survey: it was about

building relationships between the evaluation programme and the groups. It was therefore

important to present the survey as something which is worth doing, and is not too difficult

to do. Ways to do this included explaining the logic of the questions so people have an

opportunity to buy in to the reasons behind the survey, and making it as easy as possible to

complete (whilst still collecting enough information for us to make useful analysis of).

4.1.2 The audience for the questionnaire

The survey was sent to all Woodcraft Folk Pioneer, Venturer and DF groups. We designed

the questionnaire to be completed in a group session by the leader(s) together with the

group members. The majority of the questions were therefore targeted at the group

members – but it also included a section for the leaders to complete.

4.1.3 Survey format

We sent out the survey with a covering letter which explained what we are doing and why.

It included a free post envelope to encourage people to send it back. We also invited them

to email or ring us if they’d rather complete a digital version; and included our contact

details so they knew who to contact if they had any queries. We also explained what

happens to the results and that they could receive the survey results if they wished to do so.

4.1.4 Mailing process, timetable and response rate

The survey was mailed out by Woodcraft Folk HQ in January 2010 with a request to

complete it and return in a freepost envelope by the beginning of March. We also made an

electronic version available. We chased up returns during February but this proved more

difficult than anticipated as there were a number of anomalies within the contact details

provided which seemed to result in some of those we contacted not being the same people

as those who had received the actual survey.

1 The questionnaire is provided in Appendix A

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We closed receipt of completed questionnaires at the end of March in order to be able to

analyse findings for this report. In total we received 37 surveys, representing 34 different

groups. A total of 236 groups were sent the survey and this is therefore a return rate of

14.4% which in our experience is a fairly common response rate for surveys of this kind. Of

those received 17 represented Pioneer groups, 20 represented Venturer groups and 6

represented District Fellow groups.

4.1.5 Response

The groups which returned the survey to us were:

Azania Pioneers Forester Pioneers

Furness Venturers White Eagle Jungle Pioneers

Green Elm Pioneers/Venturers Sunrise Pioneers

Thorpe Hamlet Pioneers Walton District Pioneers/Venturers

Porter & Don Tuesday Pioneers Oak Tree Pioneers

Mahlangu Venturers Chorlton Venturers

Bath Venturers North Bristol DFs

Blazing Star W/P/V/E Sweet Chestnut Venturers

Cherrywood Venturers Three Toed Sloth Venturers

Peaceful Pioneers Giant Panda Pioneers

Leazes DFs Tao Adventurers

Exeter Venturers Bath Pioneers

Exeter DFs Goose Green Pioneers

Dulwich and Peckham Venturers Purple Monkey Venturers

Stroud Sapling Woodchips Hadley Pioneers

Apollo Pioneers Keen Dream DFs

Wolverhampton Pioneers

4.1.6 Key findings

The full results of the survey are set out in an appendix to this report. Below is a summary of

those findings.

4.1.6.1 Diversifying membership

In terms of diversifying its membership base, WCF need to think about ways to attract

young people from a range of backgrounds and abilities. One group felt that having the

opportunity to go abroad (Germany) and meet with diverse groups there, had been very

beneficial to them. They felt that too many of the WCF groups have only white members

and they had enjoyed discussing topics around multiculturalism and racism with the German

group of largely Turkish and Palestinian children. While there were no questions specifically

designed to gauge cultural and ethnic diversity within groups, the questions pertaining to

provision for disabled young people, highlighted some shortcomings within the movement.

Namely there appears to be a lack of understanding of how social, as well as environmental

factors might act to exclude disabled young people from the movement.

Many of the groups currently have no disabled members. Most of them say that if they

were to gain any disabled members they would do their best to make them welcome,

although few refer to specific actions which would be taken. Some groups suggested that

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awareness games could be used to promote equality and others said that they would

fundraise to buy special equipment.

Many groups talk of making disabled children “welcome” or “taking care of them” and

whilst it is clear that every effort would be made to cater for their social needs, there seems

to be a lack of recognition that environmental factors play a big part in excluding disabled

young people. This said, one group is currently in the (early) process of considering moving

their venue to a local disabled school. Another couple of groups also mention perhaps

getting extra carers/helpers in to increase the ability of disabled young people to

participate.

Several of the groups admit that whilst they would try their best to make activities inclusive,

their venues are not particularly accessible. One group meets in a cellar two flights of stairs

down. Obviously groups like this would struggle enormously to make themselves accessible

to disabled young people. It is perhaps worth noting however, that even groups with good

access often do not have any disabled group members. Perhaps there is a general

perception of the organization as being unsuitable for disabled young people, which is

putting people off joining, as well as the inaccessibility of some group venues. One group

suggests that they might need to go into local schools to tell the children what Woodcraft

Folk is about, and to let children with disabilities know that the movement is for them as

well. Another reiterates the point that Woodcraft Folk might need to do more to advertise

itself as a disabled friendly organization.

4.1.6.2 Increasing involvement

The task of increasing involvement has two strands; firstly there is the need to increase

young people’s participation in decision making and in organizational roles. Secondly there

is the need to promote WCF as an organization which volunteers might like to be involved

with. There were of course some groups who feel that their members are already

contributing well to the running, organizing and decision making of the group, and this is

encouraging. However the overall feeling conveyed through the survey responses was that

overall, young people are still finding it difficult to take the reins.

One leader requested that funding application forms be made easier for young people to fill

in, indicating that at the moment complicated bureaucratic processes might be hindering

young people involvement (this is a point which was also brought up in some of the

stakeholder interviews). Almost half of the groups returning the survey felt they would like

to do more activities based on things they felt strongly about, indicating that currently

young people for whatever reason, are not as involved in the decision making processes

affecting their group as they might like to be.

Maintaining adult and volunteer commitment is also an issue which has been commonly

described. Some groups struggle to get regular commitment out of their volunteers and

others find it difficult to attract volunteers in the first place. Again these are issues relate to

things said in the stakeholder interviews; the over-reliance on a small number of core

volunteers and the difficulty in encouraging parents to help out on a regular basis.

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4.1.6.3 Sharing of good practice

Through the survey, groups were able to share with us things which they had done which

had been successful. We asked a number of questions about which activities had been

successful and which had been less so. We also asked groups about their links with other

WCF groups to see how good practice might already be being shared. The survey revealed

an extensive list of activities which had been run which were deemed to be “favourites” and

we feel that collecting this kind of information in an open and accessible way, may be very

useful in terms of sharing good practice. Examples of activities which are successful should

be shared between groups, especially new groups just starting out. Adopting activities which

have proven to be interesting and fun may help groups currently struggling to retain old, or

attract new members.

Groups could be invited to write to HQ about a favourite activity and include pictures to go in

a printed brochure or on a page of the Woodcraft website. The brochure would act as an

“ideas pool” where groups could both give and receive advice for running tried and tested

activities. It would be a brilliant way to increase communication between groups and to

encourage groups to recognise their own successes.

4.1.6.4 Group Successes

Successes acknowledged in the survey relate less to WCF as an organisation or to its

national aims but rather to small scale, group level successes, including popular activities or

links with other groups. It is clear from the responses that the WCF activities which are held

in high esteem are those which require the whole group’s input. Team games, problem

solving and especially camping were enjoyable not just as specific activities but as ways that

group members could spend time together - “activities which give us a chance to chat and

enjoy each other’s company.” Encouragingly a lot of groups felt that there was little they

had done which had been unsuccessful:

“I don't think many activities have been unpopular, if we don't enjoy something then we

make it into something we do enjoy.”

“Not many things haven't been popular, only less popular than the rest, if you see what I

mean.”

“I don’t want to sound cheesy but I can't actually think of anything I haven’t enjoyed. I like

being in the company of lovely people and I think that’s what makes everything we do so

much fun.”

4.1.6.5 Links with other groups and organizations

It is clear that many of the WCF groups act in relative isolation; fairly removed from other

WCF groups and from external organizations. While the majority of groups said they did

have contact with other WCF groups, this tended to be in the form of attendance at once or

twice yearly camps rather than at frequent, small scale activities. When asked if their group

would like to get involved in a local project or campaign almost half said they didn’t know

and we think this is largely due to the fact that many simply don’t know what is going on in

their local area which they might be able to get involved with.

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One group felt that looking outwards towards their local community was important for WCF

groups, to ensure that they didn’t become too stifled or inward looking. Another group

suggested that a newsletter written by young people would be a good way to share ideas

and to get involved with other group’s activities. This comment ties in with some of the

concerns expressed in the stakeholders interviews; of how to share best practice and how

to improve communication between groups, especially groups which are currently quite

isolated.

4.1.6.6 Needs, wants and expectations of TREE

Perhaps the most important piece of information to come out of the Year 1 survey is the

lack of knowledge which groups possess about the TREE project and what it hopes to

achieve. Over half the groups were unsure as to whether TREE could help them face their

current challenges.

“I would have to know more about TREE and understand it better before I could answer this

question.”

“We don't know much about the TREE project. We would like someone to come and talk

about it with our group.”

“Have not had any direct contact with it until now, so remain somewhat unclear as to its

overall purpose and goals.”

One group did sum up TREE succinctly – “Make WCF more widely known. Expand

membership. Train and empower leaders and young people. Promote aims and principles of

folk.” This seems to be the best understanding of the TREE project that we came across in

the survey, although several of the groups did manage to identify one or two of TREEs main

aims. One comment which is definitely worth mentioning is that despite being a good idea,

the TREE project might have become somewhat confused in the minds of the young people

because it has come along at the same time as lots of other initiatives. The leader of one

group thought that perhaps his/her group members might be a bit overwhelmed by it.

When asked what they would like TREE to provide them with by way of support, most of the

groups suggested funding.

4.1.6.7 The Group Spectrum

The survey has raised some questions about the ability of WCF to retain members in areas

where there are not currently the full range of groups. While some groups have increased

their membership figures over the last three years; through posters, advertising online, and

by word of mouth, there are still a number of groups struggling with declining membership

and its associated problems. One key issue which was identified was the benefit of

We recommend that a directory of local projects and organisations is produced for each

district so that groups might easily identify local opportunities in which to get involved. Not

only could involvement in the wider community be interesting and fun, it could also be a

brilliant way to showcase what WCF is all about; increasing public knowledge and

understanding of the movement and essentially promoting WCF.

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continuity and of fluid movement from one age group to the next. Many of the groups

whose numbers have increased point to their proximity to suitable “feeder groups” as a

reason for increased membership. Commonly Venturer groups have grown thanks to local

Pioneer groups moving their members up at 13. Several of the groups experiencing declines

have been Pioneer groups because of a lack of local Elfin groups for members to move up

from, and a loss of older members to Venturer groups. This can have a big impact on group

dynamics. Clearly some groups are suffering because their areas lack the full range of

Woodcraft Folk groups, while others thrive thanks to the continuity their district can offer.

This concern around group continuity and sustainability is reflected in the consultation with

several of the stakeholders (see section 3.3).

4.1.6.8 Training

There was a very mixed few of training opportunities amongst the leaders; some felt that

“training within the folk is good” while others said they “don’t have any training.” Time and

distance were both identified as barriers to training opportunities; one leader said that it

“can be hard as a leader with a young family to commit to a training weekend.” This

sentiment was reflected by another leader who felt that training was too infrequent and

that giving up weekends to do it was undesirable. Another felt that while s/he had received

general training about Woodcraft Folk, training about working with specific age groups

would have been useful.

Different kinds of training were requested through the survey; some wanted more general

training (including for volunteers), whilst others wanted training to become trainers (i.e.

leaders to receive training so that they themselves can train up new leaders and guide them

in setting up their own groups.). Training, especially for older members such as DFs was also

mentioned, with the view that training the older members about how to work with the

younger groups (e.g. Pioneers) was something groups needed help with. Overall, the issues

around training brought out through the survey related more to training for leaders as

opposed to training for young people.

4.2 Project records, reports etc

An important tool in enabling us to evaluate the progress of TREE over the year was a study

of appropriate administration records, notes from TREE project meetings and activities,

project reports etc. as outlined below:

Records/Reports etc

TREE Business Plan,

WCF Membership/Registration Records 2009

TREE BIG Lottery Mid Year Report 2009

TREE Steering Group minutes

TREE Staff Quarterly Reports

TREE Team Minutes

TREE General Council Reports

Woodcraft Folk – What’s Changed (Report from NYA young researcher)

Matrix of Youth Participation

Have Your Say Report

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Youth Participation Strategy (starting points) Report

Participation Plan

List of individuals and groups consulted re Participation Strategy

Campaign Session notes

Comms Agreement notes

TREE Report (WCF Christmas newsletter)

Copies of all the above are held by the TREE project team.

4.2.1 Membership Statistics (2009)

Our analysis of membership statistics for groups with members2 in the target age range (10-

18) i.e. Pioneers, Venturers and DFs showed that:

o There are 236 Woodcraft Folk groups covering this age range

o The total number of members within these Woodcraft Folk groups is 4,226.

o Of these 2022 were boys (48%) and 2204 were girls (52%).

o The average size group has 18 members

o The groups reported that in total 85 of their youth members had some kind of

special need (2%). The percentage of disabled children in England as a whole is

thought to be in the order of 4%. 3

o 50 groups report having at least one disabled child/child with special needs. This is

about 20% of the WCF Groups.

The membership records also contain details of the number of adults involved with each

group but we do not have these figures. This would be useful information to have as a year

one “base measure” for TREE but is more difficult to extract from the current system

requiring a manual count.

2 Please note these statistics do not include DFs not involved in local groups 3 Analysis of national statistics makes it possible to put a lower and upper bound on the number of disabled

children in England, based on the number of children with a statement of Special Educational Needs and in

receipt of Disability Living Allowance (DLA). On this basis the number of disabled children in England can be

estimated as being between 288,000 and 513,000. The mean percentage of disabled children in England is

likewise estimated to be between 3.0% and 5.4%.

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We recommend that this count be made for year one as it is an important base measure. We

also recommend that the database system be adjusted so that this information is

straightforward to extract and also includes a breakdown between men and women.

Our study of the various newsletters and progress reports over the year has made it clear to

us that TREE has achieved a great deal in year one and this is well illustrated through an

extract from the TREE Christmas 2009 newsletter:

Young Woodcraft Folk creating new communications

TREE communications started with the development of a brand for the programme,

including a logo and leaflet designed by young Woodcraft Folk, but quickly developed with

the establishment of the Communications Group, who are young Woodcraft Folk keen to

improve the organisation by using their communications ideas and skills. They’ve developed

a plan to introduce materials that support young people moving up through the age groups,

which they aim to launch at 2010’s Annual Gathering, and they’ll be running a national

campaign for Refugees and Asylum Seekers, voted for by young people across the

movement; it’s going to be a busy year for these 20 young people and you’ll be hearing a lot

from them!

Leah, a Venturer on the Communications Group says: ‘I joined the Communications Group

because I wanted to be more involved in Woodcraft Folk. The TREE project is about letting

young people in Woodcraft Folk have their say. I want to be part of a campaign and I enjoy

getting involved in things. If you want to have your say in Woodcraft then contact the TREE

group.’

TREE has also been supporting the development of Woodcraft Folk’s new website and

membership database, due for launch in February 2010.

Branching out to new partners

We have been working closely with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) this year

and recently adopted the NDCS deaf-friendly pledge. Deaf awareness training was run by an

NDCS staff member at the DFs’ Spring Awakening and at Annual Gathering, looking at how

to make camping and other Woodcraft activities more deaf-friendly. As a result, the DFs

invited young people from NDCS and Sense (a national charity for deafblind young people

and adults) to attend their Taster Camp in the summer, which TREE supported them in.

Positive feedback was received from both organisations and the DFs are looking at how to

build on these relationships. Meanwhile TREE has also been supporting the Open and

Accessible to All working group to launch its access awards and has contracted Oyster

Training to deliver ‘Challenging Disablism’ and ‘Promoting Positive Behaviour’ workshops.

Watch out for this brand-new training at regional gatherings in the new year.

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4.3 Stakeholder interviews

A programme of 14 stakeholder interviews / group consultations were agreed with the TREE

project team and face to face or telephone interviews took place from November 2009 until

February 2010.

Write ups of each of the interviews are available from us. We identified a number of themes

that emerged consistently throughout the stakeholder interviews and have listed them

here, illustrating them with comments drawn from the interviews.

Overall, it’s important to emphasise that the stakeholders were keen to highlight successes

achieved so far by the TREE project. These included:

Young people’s participation in all elements of Woodcraft Folk

The TREE project aims to help young people have their say in a wider range of Woodcraft

Folk activities, from groups to General Council, and find ways to support them to fulfil roles

and responsibilities to their best potential. Youth participation is core to the Woodcraft Folk

movement and we believe that improving our practice will make the organisation stronger

for the future. Through the group night and camp activities run between May and October,

the TREE Team learnt about young people’s involvement and participation throughout

Woodcraft and gathered ideas on how to address any challenges they face. The result? A

new youth Participation Plan for 2010-13, designed to strengthen and support full youth

participation in Woodcraft Folk.

Training to build skills and give support

We have been working with National Youth Agency (NYA) to develop ‘Follow the Trail’

activities for young people, our version of the NYA's Hear by Right scheme, and to train

people to deliver Follow the Trail training. Look out for opportunities to test new activities

from February 2010 and to sign up to be a Trail Trainer in late March. We are also working

with the Co-operative College to build more training and mentoring opportunities into

Woodcraft, and that activity will kick-off in 2010. We will be looking for young people to

become trainers for a course to be run at Venturer Camp next summer, the first in a series of

courses running right through to 2014.

And we’ve already begun working to implement some of the training in the Participation Plan

– starting with ‘Bored Meetings’ training for young people on committees in November – and

more is on its way in the coming year!

Looking Forward

There’ll be loads of stuff to get involved in and opportunities available during 2010:

new training weekends for young people

o film-making

o packs of resources to support transition between groups

o ‘Challenging Disablism’ and ‘Promoting Positive Behaviour’ workshops

o more deaf-friendly training from NDCS

o start up grants for new Venturer & DF groups

o support for groups seeking to develop inclusion strategies

o a whirlwind of activity at Venturer Camp

o new Follow the Trail resources

o funds to support local action projects

o the national refugees and asylum seekers campaign

16

Some successes highlighted by stakeholders

o Using “playful” consultation exercises to provide a fun way for children to have an

input.

o The successful formation of the Steering Group and Youth Comms Group

o The “audit” of current engagement and the development of the Participation Plan.

o Process to secure agreement for the National Campaign – Refugees and Asylum

Seekers.

o Improvements to communication - especially with regards to digital technologies

such as online voting, mailing lists, TREEmail bulletin and the forthcoming website

o The recruitment of pioneers for the TREE Steering Group - the first time that WCF

has had younger members involved in national decision making.

o Changes to traditional approaches making decision-making exercises more accessible

to younger children. Changing the location of national meetings so that younger

members have less far to travel; doing away with long, formal meetings and

employing games to make decisions and express opinions; the introduction of

chaperones; gaining permission from parents with no WCF background for their

children to take part (initial contact is made through group leaders and thereafter

through the TREE Team directly).

o Small but significant success with the deaf friendly training of a DF group, which

resulted in a deaf person deciding to attend a summer camp.

o Some good examples of districts succeeding in providing transitional progress

between the different levels of Woodcraft Folk groups. E.g. Banbury District appears

to be good at retaining members and helping them progress through the different

groups.

Other themes that came up consistently are described below, and the points are illustrated

with specific comments from interviews.

Retention of Woodcraft Folk members and encouragement of new members/groups

o There has been a slow decline in WCF numbers over the last 10 years or so – need to

reverse this decline first by retain more existing members

o Need to explore different methods of moving children up to the next level of

Woodcraft group. A key problem in retaining young members is a lack of groups to

move up to in some areas. Need to create new local Woodcraft Folk groups in order

to retain members

o Need to introduce new, exciting activities in order to retain members

o The difficulties in both providing the facilities, support and training for Venturer

groups to flourish; and also the need for new kinds of activity to keep Venturers

interested in the WCF movement.

o There are some districts which already do a great job of helping children progress

through WCF - learn from these.

o One of TREEs key aims is the encouragement of a greater diversity of young people

to join the movement. (Ties in with the need to make WCF more widely known of).

o Need to provide more support to people setting up new groups

17

Project Management

o Concern that a lack of continuity and experience amongst core members of Steering

Group and Comms Groups may slow progress or lead to unhelpful shifts in project

direction

o Need to think about induction process to combat problems of continuity within the

core TREE Teams such as the Steering and Comms Groups

o Need a strong system for coping when key members leave.

o Progress could become bogged down in lengthy meetings which might hinder the

ability of the younger WCF members to participate. Keeping the tedious,

bureaucratic elements away from the young people would allow them to have an

input without shouldering too much responsibility.

o Consider need for a project board or some kind of tighter management structure to

link to the youth management/delivery groups

Some Problems with Volunteers/Support Staff/Leader Involvement

o WCF currently relies too heavily on a small number of volunteers

o More training needs to be provided for volunteers and leaders

o Linked to communication: need to publicise what WCF is about, in order to attract

new volunteers

Communication

o WCF currently has problems communicating to the general public “what it’s all

about”

o The potential for misunderstanding of TREE and its aims because of problems with

communication between the core organisation and the grassroots.

o Groups need to know that TREE is about helping them meet local needs/pursue local

campaigns

o Recent intro of teleconferencing is a good way to tackle problems of geographic

distance

o A general joining up between all groups, members, leaders, top organizational

figures and Steering Group, youth comms members is essential to make the most of

TREE’s opportunities.

o Strong communication is needed to execute a national project down at local levels

o The use of new media such as websites, online polls has had success

Sharing of Good Practice

o As an extension of “communication” the importance of sharing good practice is a key

requirement for TREE.

o The programme should be a good way to take examples of best practice from some

groups and distribute this knowledge and experience throughout the whole

organisation.

o It is proving quite difficult to gather good practice examples: “Despite various

approaches it seems groups are being too modest to send in examples of good

practice at local level! It may be that groups are too close to their own good work to

see that it is of interest more widely.”

o Setting up some sort of award scheme might encourage groups to send in examples

of their achievements.

o More new resources and materials should be created and shared.

18

Active Participation of Young People

o Involving more young people in a variety of decision making roles is probably the

most crucial target for TREE

o The provision of support and training to enable this involvement is therefore also key

o Training young people to be leaders themselves is important (may have a positive

effect on continuity, members becoming leaders having left DFs)

o TREE should provide resources to enable more young people within WCF to meet

up/travel together

o Accreditation should be introduced to mark young people’s achievements

o There are several examples of success in the first 6 months and also some areas for

improvement

o The establishment and initial work of both the TREE Steering Group and Comms

Group are notable successes

o The geographical and age-range spread of the Youth Comms Group indicates that

progress is being made with regard both to increasing diversity within WCF and to

getting more young people involved with decision making.

o The production of the Participation Plan is another clear success for TREE involving

over 700 young people in consultation

o Young people expressing their views by way of an online voting system also

highlights the potential of modern technology to aid participation

The role of TREE within the Woodcraft Folk movement

o There is a need for balance between TREE and national WCF work; TREE needs to be

inherently Woodcraft in some senses but separate in others.

o WCF need a strong plan for the future of WCF beyond TREEs 5 years. It must not

become over reliant on the resources made available through TREE

o WCF need to clearly communicate with local groups what TREE is and how it fits with

WCFs overall aims

o WCF must be careful to ensure that TREE does not overshadow other WCF work or

pull away too many resources

TREE as a vehicle for reinvigoration and reflection

o As well as being a source of monetary aid, TREE should also aid WCF by inspiring its

members.

o TREE should help WCF focus and reflect on where it is going and how it would like to

get there

o The National Council of Voluntary Youth Services twice yearly meetings with other

BIG funded youth projects could be an excellent forum for the exchange of ideas and

good practice with other similar organisations

Other generic comments

o Need for improved communication with and training of group leaders

o Partner orgs are keen to open WCF up to the groups they represent (Deaf, BMEs,

Disabled etc)

o Partners say WCF are already quite a pro-active and inclusive organisation compared

to other similar organisations but there is still room for improvement

o There is a need to shake off the image of WCF as stereotypically a white, middle-

class movement

19

o The current economic climate poses a threat to the success of TREE as people

become more and more careful with money will they want to be spending it on

sending their children to WCF?

o Change in the business attitude of schools makes it difficult for some WCF groups to

find affordable local space for meetings.

o The TREE project must aim to meet clearly defined targets set by BIG. This could

restrict TREEs ability to respond flexibly to unexpected ideas and opportunities.

o WCF really need to promote TREE as being there to meet local needs so that it is not

perceived to be a demand from the central organisation made of all the groups

Challenges and Potential Barriers to TREE’s success

We also asked stakeholders to tell us what they thought the major challenges were that the

project faced. The range of challenges and potential barriers to success was very varied, and

some of the main issues are summarised below:

• Providing effective Project Management for TREE

• Leaders and volunteers being too busy to take up TREE opportunities. Dependence

on small number of active volunteers etc who have limited time. Work often falls on

a few key people.

• Gains made through TREE may not be sustainable after BIG funding has run out

• Communication systems not being effective in getting information out to volunteers,

children and young people.

• Inclusion – ensuring that TREE is successful in increasing participation in sectors like

disabled children and BME

• Perception that WCF is stereotypically for “white middle class liberals” – others may

think it is not for them

• Resistance to change from long-standing WCF leaders/volunteers. Resistance from

some local groups to Quality Assurance schemes and monitoring material asked of

by WCF national.

• Delivering a “national” project effectively across hundreds of small local groups.

• Widening leadership beyond those children and young people who are already

active and involved.

• Getting the balance right between what the organisation wants to achieve and what

young people want

• Managing partnership working effectively

• TREE being seen as a centrally driven scheme creating more work for local groups

(rather than providing support to them!).Perception that TREE is demanding of local

groups rather than supporting them

• There may be a risk that the requirement to meet very defined outputs for BIG

means that TREE cannot respond flexibly to unexpected ideas/opportunities that

come up during the lifetime of the project.

• Expectation within WCF for things that TREE can finance might not affordable or

allowed in the budget (e.g. can’t buy land as that’s capital and not revenue).

• As WCF is such a huge organisation there are a lot of individual people to reach: it is

hard to have a training impact on them all.

20

4.4 Shadowing

In order to get a “grass roots” understanding of the impact of the TREE project on the way

that Woodcraft Folk Groups run we are visiting 5 local Woodcraft Folk groups to ‘shadow’

over the lifetime of the project. These groups were selected through the TREE Steering

Group to represent a varied cross section of groups across the country. We met have met

with all 5 groups in the first year as detailed below4 :

o Exeter – 15th

October 2009

o Ealing – 9th

November 2009

o Sheffield – 26th

November 2009

o Coventry East – 5th

December 2009

o Leazes (Newcastle) – 18th

February 2010

We intend that through the ‘shadowing’ process we will get to know some of the local

people involved with Woodcraft, understand the contexts in which they are working in more

detail, and have an opportunity to hear them describe their experiences of being involved in

the project as it develops.

Staying in contact with them throughout the project will enable us to revisit the

conversations we’d had with them and see which bits of the TREE project they’ve been able

to implement easily; which have proved more challenging; and what approaches they’ve

found have helped them most.

The visits in the first year were primarily about introducing ourselves to the groups and

gaining an understanding of how they currently operate. We were also keen to see how

similar or different they are from each other. We were aware that at this point in the

delivery of the TREE project it would not be likely that many of the groups would have

received any direct benefit from TREE, but we were interested in seeing how aware they

were of TREE and its potential value to the local groups in the years to come.

4.4.1 Impressions

The groups are very different! For example: Leaders – in Exeter and Coventry East they have

had the same two leaders for over 20 years whereas in Sheffield there seemed to be a large

group of leaders involved in organising sessions. In Ealing three generations from one family

were involved in leadings sessions.

Newcastle Leazes is a student volunteering project, providing volunteer placements for

"Student Community Action Newcastle" the volunteer bureau run by Newcastle University

Students Union. This is quite a different model from many WCF groups that tend to be more

based on parental volunteer support and involvement.

o Succession issues – Exeter, Ealing and Coventry East all mentioned difficulties in

finding new leaders and recruiting adult volunteers

4 Prior to these individual group meetings we met four of the five groups at the Annual Gathering on 14

th June

2009 where we explained the purpose of the shadowing exercise and what it would involve for the

participants.

21

o Different emphasis on tradition – Exeter and Ealing both included a circle session and

finished with a song. In Ealing they were also doing a folk dancing session and

referred to their folk names. Sheffield and Newcastle were less “traditional” in this

respect.

o Use of young people to lead sessions – in Ealing DFs were involved in leading pioneer

groups

o The Newcastle Leazes group have a small base of their own (on a ten year lease)

within Leazes Park in Newcastle. The others meet in schools or community venues.

4.4.2 Some similarities:

o All had heard of TREE – two had people who are part of the communications group

in their local groups.

o Waiting list to join Pioneers; not always so for older groups

o The group leaders feel that the groups don’t always reflect the demographic makeup

of their communities – although some have more non-white people involved than

others (e.g. Ealing).

o Three groups mentioned issues about dealing with children on the autistic spectrum

or with challenging behaviour

o All are actively involved in camping and outdoor activities.

o Success in raising money from local council to do projects (e.g. perception of

‘hoodies’ in Ealing, sustainable technology project in Sheffield)

o Low fees and elements of subsidy to enable those on low income to join camping

trips

o Tendency to view TREE as having potential to be ‘just another thing to do’ on top of

their existing commitments …

The shadowing in year one has been extremely useful in enabling us to see at firsthand how

groups operate at local level. We have also learned how independent and autonomous

Woodcraft Folk groups are. This is a great strength for Woodcraft in that it means local

groups have a strong “self-help” ethos but it does mean that TREE will need to work hard to

ensure groups do take up offers from TREE as they have learned to be very self-sufficient

over the years.

All the groups were aware of TREE and generally supportive of its aims but they do not yet

see how exactly TREE is likely to benefit them locally. Most groups were interested in the

potential to be involved in TREE supported Local Action Projects and this could prove a great

means of involving significant numbers of local groups in the TREE project in years two to

five.

Shadow Group Visit – Example - Sheffield Derwent

Through Steve Kinneavy, a local leader, we arranged a visit to Sheffield Derwent Woodcraft

Folk on 26th

November 2009. The WCF meet at Westways Primary School in the Crookes

area of the city every Thursday. Steve introduced us to everyone and we were able to see at

first hand activity sessions with Elfins, Pioneers and Venturers.

It was a very busy evening with varied activities for the different groups. We spent most of

22

the evening with the Venturers but had time to pop in to see how the Elfin and Pioneer

groups were doing. The Venturers were involved with planning for the Christmas party,

discussing a possible youth hostelling trip to the Lake District in February (hoping for snow!)

and keeping refreshed by making home-made fruit smoothies (with the added dimension of

powering the smoothie maker not through electricity but by pedalling a bike!). The Pioneers

were actively involved in small groups putting together a self-created and ingenious hall-size

contraption made out of scrap items, looking like a giant version of the well-know board

game Mouse Trap (it worked!) and the Elfins were doing an art and craft session making

cards to send to Amnesty International prisoners of conscience.

We had an informal discussion with the Venturers about TREE. They had all heard about

TREE but were not really sure yet how it might benefit them locally. They told us about

various things they liked about WCF including having friendships based on common

principles, group discussions of political and topical issues e.g. Palestine; and outdoor

activities. They thought that the discussions they had in WCF were better than in schools

and that their views were respected. They explained that they were fully involved in

planning and organising the programme of activities for each term and clearly felt in control

of this process. None of the group (of those attending that night) was currently involved in

any of the WCF’s decision making at regional and national level. The main reason for this

seemed to be about the amount of time taken to attend such activities and they said they

may be more interested if it was easier for them to get to such meetings.

All in all the session gave us a good insight into how WCF operated in Sheffield Derwent and

we were very impressed with the range of activities underway. It was great to see a

dedicated group of leaders and parent leaders involved and the parents said they thought

the children and young people really got a lot out of WCF. They also said that they had a

rota system for helping out and that this was effective in sharing out responsibilities so they

didn’t feel over-burdened. The children and young people clearly enjoyed coming to WCF

and seemed to have a great relationship with the leaders and parent helpers. Most of the

Venturers had been involved with WCF since they were Elfins and they knew that they could

move on to become a DF. We thought it was great that the three groups saw each other

frequently as it is likely that this will ease the transition from one group to another.

23

5 The role of partnership working

5.1 The TREE Partnership

The TREE project was set up with the Woodcraft Folk as the lead agency of four

organisations working in partnership toward the achievement of its goals:

• The Woodcraft Folk

• The National Youth Agency (NYA)

• The Co-operative College

• The National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS)

The Woodcraft Folk are the responsible body to BIG for the delivery of the overall project

plan, project management, financial accounting etc.

As regards responsibilities within the partnership the roles of two of the additional partners,

the NYA and the Co-operative College were set out in written Partnership Agreements. The

ongoing partnership with the NYA has been dissolved as noted previously. However, a new

relationship has been developed with the National Council of Voluntary Youth services

(NCVYS) and it is anticipated that this will be maintained through the life of the project.

It is recommended that written agreements be drawn up with the NDCS and the NCVYS so

that relationships and responsibilities in relation to TREE are clear and understood by all.

The three original partners have all contributed to the work programme in year one as

planned but there has been some slippage in terms of delivery. It is important that in years 2

to 5 the Woodcraft Folk team continue to maintain effective communications with the

partners to ensure their commitment and engagement maximises the potential of the

partners to contribute to TREE’s success.

5.2 Project Management

As noted above the Woodcraft Folk have responsibility for Project Management. There is a

Woodcraft Folk TREE staff delivery team, and within that team the Membership

Development Manager acts as the primary Project Manager for the project. The TREE Team

report to Woodcraft Folk General Council.

There is a TREE Project Steering Group that involves young Woodcraft Folk with directing

the project and a Youth Comms Group that acts as a delivery group relation to

communications tasks. The link between the partners is direct to the WCF TREE project

Team. To aid project management a Gantt chart was prepared covering the course of the

project with more detailed task and milestone analysis for year one.

Some queries were raised by stakeholders as the role of the Steering Group in relation to

project management responsibility and whether there might be a case for a small

management group with specific responsibility for the more technical sides of financial and

project management.

24

5.3 The TREE Steering Group – evaluation session

We held an evaluation session with the TREE Steering Group on 16th

January 2010 at Ackers

Adventure Centre in Birmingham. The notes from the session are provided in the box below:

Steering Group feedback

What members of the Steering Group liked about Woodcraft

• Camping

• Friends

• The people

• Community “gelling”

• Skills shared

• Activities

• Campfires

• Food

• Training

• International contacts

• The atmosphere

• Camp Cluedo

• Meeting people

• Justice

• Unity

• Peace

• Songs

• Music

• Games

• Wide games

• Family fun

• Freedom

• Being involved in a national

organisation

• Smurfs

Some reasons for being on the Steering Group

• To ensure a voice is heard from all areas of Woodcraft

• Because I think it’s really important for the youth to be involved in Woodcraft and it

seemed really fun too

• Because I wanted to help and get involved in making decisions within Woodcraft

• I was interested in TREE and wanted to get more involved

• Woodcraft Folk has helped me and I wanted to give opportunities to other people

• It looked interesting

• So I could put my ideas forward

• I was interested and thought it would be fun

Reasons why TREE is important

Some of the key reasons the group chose as to why the SG thought TREE is important were:

• It will help to involve a greater diversity of young people in Woodcraft Folk activities

(e.g. more opportunities for disabled young people).

• It will provide training in youth leadership and inclusion issues e.g. how to help more

disabled young people to get involved with Woodcraft Folk

• It will keep more young people active in the Woodcraft Folk i.e. from Elfins to DFs

• It will mean more young people can get involved with the Woodcraft Folk

• It will help young people to participate more fully in planning and decision making

• It will support young people to represent themselves and others on a district,

regional or national level

25

4. Quick questionnaire

Agree Disagree Not sure

I understand the main things that TREE is trying to

achieve for the Woodcraft Folk

6 0 1

I understand my role on the Steering Group 6 0 1

I know who to ask if I have a question about TREE and

the Steering Group

6 0 1

I enjoy taking part in the Steering Group 6 0 1

I find some things about TREE and the Steering Group

work difficult to understand

2 3 2

I find some of the Steering Group work boring 4 3 0

I don’t always know who to ask for support and help 1 4 2

I could do with some training to help me with my work

on the Steering Group

2 1 4

Views on the Steering Group

Main Purposes of SG

• To help Woodcraft Folk to develop

and improve

• Provide active representation from

all age groups in managing TREE

• To oversee spending of Lottery

funding

• To help get more out of Woodcraft

for more people

• To change WCF for the better

Enjoyed

• The sense of community in the

meetings

• The people

• Meeting new people

• Team work

• The residentials

• Putting ideas forward and making a

difference

Achieved – Good Things

• Media training

• Made people think

• Made decisions

• Deciding on the national campaign

• Working from different areas

• Starting work on the TREE

evaluation

Any Difficulties?

• Can’t get to all meetings

• Friends not coming to meetings

• Not everyone attends

• Different people at each meeting

Suggestions for the future – how could we improve the SG?

• Make more decisions at the meetings (more effective than decisions by email) and

act upon them!

• Make the meetings more “task-based”

• Be clearer on what TREE is really about and what it is for

• Need to tell wider WCF movement what the TREE group has been up to

• Better Communication – need to re-evaluate methods

26

• More colourful and exciting publicity material so that people notice it

• Make sure there is always an outdoor activity

• Make the meetings more interesting

• More young people on SG – particularly Venturers

• More time spent working!

• TREE to get more integrated with wider WCF

• Better communication between TREE and wider WCF

• Computer with internet at events

5.4 Project Management – Conclusion

Our overall conclusion from our evaluation and discussion with stakeholders was that the

Steering Group is doing a good job in relation to involving young people and helping young

people to have role in steering the project.

However, we can see how a “project board” type arrangement might be useful in relation to

ensuring tight financial and task based management over what is a complex multi-faceted

project.

We therefore recommend that a small project board be established that could be comprised

of, say:

o The project manager (The WCF Membership Development Manager).

o The WCF chief executive

o One other member of the TREE deliver Team

o An external partner e.g. the Co-operative College

o A WCF General Council member

o A Steering Group Member

This group would have specific responsibility for monitoring financial management and task

management. The project board would report to the General Council and receive updates

from the Steering Group and TREE delivery team.

Our other key recommendation in relation to project management is that a detailed Gantt

chart should be prepared to cover year 2 of the project. Additionally a cash flow projection

should be prepared and regularly monitored.

27

6 TREE’s contribution to the BIG Lottery Programme Aims

6.1 BIG Young Peoples Fund – Programme outcomes

The four main outcomes that BIG are looking to achieve through the Young People’s Fund 2

are:

o BIG1 - More organisations involve young people in developing, running and

reviewing policies and services.

o BIG2 - Organisations and the young people’s sector have improved young people’s

services.

o BIG3 - Organisations and the young people’s sector understand the needs of young

people better.

o BIG4 - Organisations and the young people’s sector are more able to involve young

people.

It is clear that TREE contributes to all of these outcomes through its delivery programme and

the table below summarises the TREE project outcomes that are most relevant to each BIG

outcome along with some specific examples from year 1.

BIG Aim TREE Contribution/Most Relevant

Outcomes

Examples from Year 1

BIG 1 TO 1 – More young people involved

with Woodcraft Folk;

TO 5 – More and better involvement

of young people in Woodcraft Folk

decision making

- A new Venturer group (Wandering

Wolves) has been established in

Lancaster.

- 21 young people have been

recruited to form a Comms Group

leading on programme marketing, a

national youth led campaign

(Refugees & Asylum Seekers) and

developing transition materials.

BIG 2 TO 5 – More and better involvement

of young people in Woodcraft Folk

decision making

TO 3 – Sharing good practice and

experience

- Woodcraft Folk’s Development

Conference (November 2009)

involving both young people and

adult members drafted the new

group support strategy to be utilised

in the establishment of these groups,

including the introduction of a new

volunteer role ‘New group buddy’.

- Young people have been engaged in

a range of programme and wider

Woodcraft Folk committees, the

greatest success in Year 1 being the

engagement of Pioneers (10-13 year

olds) who had previously not been

represented within Woodcraft Folk

nationally.

28

- Woodcraft Folk activities have been

showcased at the following events

during 2009: Annual Gathering in

Bradford, Co-operative Congress in

Windsor, Co-operative Education

Conference in Northampton, an

Envision event in London.

BIG 3 TO 2 – More disabled young people

involved with Woodcraft Folk

- A Deaf Friendly statement has been

produced in partnership with the

National Deaf Children's Society

(NDCS)

- Woodcraft Folk has developed new

partnership links with SENSE. Young

people from both SENSE and NDCS

participated in a youth led DF Taster

Camp.

BIG 4 TO 5 – More and better involvement

of young people in Woodcraft Folk

decision making

TO 3 – Sharing good practice and

experience

- A significant Consultation exercise

took place, representing 50% of

English WCF Districts, which has led

to the production of a Participation

Plan for the programme including the

Games, Games, Games DVD,

committee training, democracy

video, District Co-ordinators

Handbook and session leadership

skills for Venturers.

- Young Steering Group members

presented draft motions to

Woodcraft Folk’s General Council for

inclusion in the 2010 AGM

Every Child Matters Outcomes In addition projects must contribute to at least two of the following Every Child Matters

outcomes:

o ECM1 - Being healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health; living a healthy

lifestyle.

o ECM2 - Staying safe: being protected from harm and neglect; growing up able to look

after yourself.

o ECM3 - Enjoying and achieving: getting the most out of life; developing skills for

adulthood.

o ECM4 - Making a positive contribution: giving back to the local community and

society; not offending or behaving anti-socially.

o ECM5 - Economic well being: overcoming socio-economic disadvantages to achieve

full potential in life.

29

Again, in broad terms TREE can be seen to contribute to all of the five Every Child Matters

outcomes as illustrated below:

ECM O/C TREE Contribution

ECM 1 Encouraging young people to experience outdoor adventures, be active and

camp

ECM 2 Adopting practices in line with standards as set out in the National Council for

Voluntary Youth Services ‘Sound Systems’ and providing a supportive and

empowering environment that enables young people to influence activities

and take on agreed and appropriately challenging roles

ECM 3 Supporting young people to participate in activities at levels that enable them

to have fun, develop skills, confidence and reach their full potential

ECM 4 Preparing and supporting young people to volunteer in their communities,

developing local action projects in response to local needs, leading local youth

provision and supporting the engagement of other young people through

mentoring and youth led training

ECM 5 Young people developing new skills and gaining accreditation that will support

their transition into further education and employment

6.2 National Significance (NS)

Projects also need to demonstrate an impact across England in relation to the following

factors:

NS1 - improve the public image of young people

NS2 - increase the general public’s understanding of problems faced by young

people.

TREE can demonstrate its national significance in both of these areas as outlined below:

NS TREE Contribution Examples from Year 1

NS 1 Young people taking positive action on local

issues through Local Action projects

Young people taking positive action on national

issues through youth led campaigns

Young people providing service to others, as new

group helpers and leaders within Woodcraft Folk

groups

Young people taking part in positive activities

through group nights, camps etc

Young people developing skills through training

Young people putting our motto “span the world

with friendship” into practice, being open,

accessible and welcoming to others through our

work with the National Deaf Children’s Society

and others

These positive examples of young people will be

publicised through:

Local press, with the support of a press pack for

- TREE staff and Steering

Group members have been

actively involved in

Participation Works (a

national consortium),

attending training and

contributing to the external

evaluation of the service.

- Woodcraft Folk activities

have been showcased in

2009 at the Co-operative

Congress in Windsor, Co-

operative Education

Conference in Northampton

and at an Envision event in

London.

30

use by young people

National press, with the support of the

Woodcraft Folk Press Officer and Woodcraft Folk

TREE project’s Youth Communications Officer

Seeking awards and recognition e.g. Energy

Efficiency awards

Showcasing the achievements of young people at

national youth and community work events

NS 2 The eighty Local Action projects will highlight

issues and concerns that impact on the lives of

young people.

Young people will receive training in the

preparation and delivering of Local Action

projects. This training will look at communication

and publicity, and include guidance on how to

attract and engage other young people as well as

how to get your message heard by other

community residents and policy makers.

The themes and experiences of Local Action

projects will be collated and shared through a

national report distributed widely across the

youth and community sector.

- Although the aim is to

develop 80 local action

projects in Year 2, to support

this work a group of

Venturers from Ealing have

drafted support and

promotional materials with

support from the TREE Youth

Empowerment Officer.

Finally, projects need to achieve at least one of the following priorities:

NS A - Test new ways of doing things on a national scale

NS B - Have the potential for widespread replication

NS C - Influence national policy and practice

NS D - Set national standards of best practice.

NS TREE Contribution Examples from Year 1

NS A The development of a youth-led

Steering Group for the TREE project.

The Steering Group has been successfully

established commenced work.

NS B The preparation and dissemination of

20 case studies of good practice with

the intention of enabling replication

elsewhere.

Two case studies have been produced:

filmed interviews and a video of the

Ealing Venturers’ project “We Matter 2”

and a write up of the Steering Group’s

participation in TREE planning and

decision making.

NS C The extensive consultation and

engagement process with young people

and the translation of the findings into

a detailed Participation Plan

This process was a notable success of

year 1

NS D The development and implementation

of national youth-led campaigns.

The involvement of the Youth Comms

Group and Steering Group in the

31

agreement and planning of the Refugees

and Asylum Seekers Campaign.

32

7 Progress in relation to 5 project outcomes Reports to BIG require that progress is measured in relation to the 5 key outcomes and

more specifically to jointly agreed specific milestones for the project. This section looks at

progress based on this approach in year 1.

It might be a good idea for the TREE project manager to set up a simple quarterly monitoring

system for the individual milestones with a simple traffic light system to provide early

warning of any delays. That is for each milestone provide a RED, AMBER, or GREEN rating in

relation to achievement.

Outcome 1: 8,349 young people will have fun, develop skills, confidence and take action on their concerns and issues through engagement with Wood craft Folk groups over a five year period.

Relevant Milestone Year 1 Timeframe Achievement/Comment

1. Co-ordinate 240 weekly

Pioneer (10-12 year olds),

Venturer (13-15 year olds)

and District Fellow/DFs (16-

20 year olds) groups. Engage

4,800 young people in the

first year

Within 12 months In 2009 there were 236 Woodcraft Folk

groups covering the target age range

The total number of members within

these Woodcraft Folk groups was 4,226.

This represents a small shortfall on the

original target.

2. Young people to produce

a film, birthday cards and

leaflets to ease the transition

from one group to another.

Within 12 months Outputs in the year have included 4

editions of TREEmail (TREE project

electronic newsletter, which is edited by

a 12 year old), 3 editions of The Zine (a

youth led transition and information

magazine, wholly written, edited and

designed by young people), working

with Woodcraft Folk’s ‘Better Known

and Understood’ working group to

produce generic leaflets and posters,

and a welcome card for all new group

members.

Outcome 2: Young people with disabilities will have more social opportunities to interact with their peers through the increased understanding and access at Woodcraft Folk group activities provided during the first two years of the project.

Relevant Milestone Year 1 Timeframe Achievement/Comment

1. Introduce an annual

demographic monitoring and

reporting system for local

groups.

Within six months We understand that a working group of

Woodcraft Folk members (including

young people) have designed a

demographic monitoring system for

33

groups, recruitment and events. The

system has been tested, but is awaiting

a formal launch to coincide with the

membership database as this will be

used to analyse and compare data.

2. Develop a policy

statement and a 'deaf

friendly' guide for use by

Group Leaders. Support 40%

of WCF groups to attain the

highest level of Woodcraft

Folk Access Award,

increasing participation by

people with disabilities by

10%

Start within nine

months, review in

2 years

A statement has been produced in

partnership with the National Deaf

Children's Society and in consultation

with Woodcraft Folk members.

Woodcraft Folk Access Award material

has been produced and circulated to

every Woodcraft Folk group. Initial

access assessments have been

undertaken to create a baseline and

inform next steps. A baseline of 85

disabled members suggests a target of

94 a 10% increase by the end of the 5

year period.

8 WCF groups have received the Access

Award. To meet the 40% target (based

on the current number of groups) about

95 groups would need to have achived

this by the end of the project. This is an

ambitious target!

3. Deliver disability

awareness training and

practical training on dealing

with young people with

ADHD & Aspergers for

Group, Project and Centre

Leaders

Within 12 months 'Oyster Training' are delivering disability

awareness and promoting positive

behaviour training to Woodcraft Folk

members. Training sessions started in

November 2009 and will be completed

by July 2010.

Outcome 3: By the end of the project 130 young people will develop communication, committee and project management skills by becoming more active in the democratic and decision making structures of Wood craft Folk on a regional and national level, and directing the organisation throughout this project.

Relevant Milestone Year 1 Timeframe Achievement/Comment

1. Recruit, train and support

a wider range of young

people to take committee

roles on a regional and

national level Target 34

individuals in year one

ongoing from

June 2009

16 young people have been recruited to

the TREE project Steering Group, 21

young people have been recruited to

the TREE Comms Group, 11 young

people have been elected to General

Council and 10 young people have been

34

elected to the national DF Committee.

'Bored Meeting' training was delivered

in November 2009.

2. Consult 500 young

members to collect ideas for

increasing democracy and

participation and to identify

training and support needs.

Within six months Completed and 726 Woodcraft Folk

members (including more than 500

children and young people) were

consulted through this process.

3. Actively engage young

people in adapting 'Hear by

Right' as a tool for improving

quality in local Venturer and

DFs groups.90% of all groups

using the tool by end of 2014

Ongoing The adaptation of 'Follow the Trail' for

Venturers and DFs has been completed

in partnership with the NYA.

4. Develop and implement a

four year Democracy &

Participation Plan based on

consultation results.

Increasing attendance at the

Annual Gathering by the

target age group by 20%

Within eight

months

The Participation Plan has been

produced and launched to the wider

Woodraft Folk membership.

5. Update constitution in

response to young people's

suggestions

Within 15 months Work on this task has begun in

November 2009.

Outcome 4: Provide 2,000 young people with challenging experiences, training and opportunities for accreditation through the development of five new supported volunteering roles (quality champions, young trainers, mentors, campaigners and Local Action group members) , as well as increasing support for existing volunteer roles (group helpers and leaders, committee members and event organisers) by 2014.

Relevant Milestone Year 1 Timeframe Achievement/Comment

1. Produce a Volunteers

Guide to support existing

volunteer policy

Within 12 months The Volunteer Guide is currently being

produced but not completed.

2. Launch volunteering

awareness campaign,

targeting young people (13-

16yrs) and those with

disabilities. Target to have

5% of volunteers describing

themselves as having a

disability

Launch within 14

months

Promotion of volunteering

opportunities has begun, as has

recruitment of young leaders for the

campaign.

3. Recruit, train and support

84 young quality champions

Within 12 months An adaptation of 'Follow the Trail' for

Venturers and DFs has been completed.

35

to undertake peer group

reviews using the adapted

'Hear by Right' tool and

make recommendations for

improving groups and

services.

The recruitment of young Quality

Champions is also behind schedule and

should become a priority for early in

year 2.

4. Recruit, train and accredit

10 young trainers in year 2

and a further 45 during years

3 to 5. Young trainers to be

available to external groups

from year 3.

Within 16 months The Co-op’s development of course

materials was delayed but is now

completed and accreditation systems

have been devised. The recruitment of

Young Trainers was planned to

commence in Q4 of year 1 but was put

back as part of an agreed re-schedule

with the Co-op College. This should

become a priority for early in year 2.

Outcome 5: Increase youth participation by enabling others to replicate good practice, through collecting and sharing participation experience amongst 400 member groups and 230 external organisations throughout and by the end of the grant.

Relevant Milestone Year 1 Timeframe Achievement/Comment

1. Support 8 projects

annually to showcase their

work, 2 of which should be

to external organisations.

Ongoing from

three months

Woodcraft Folk activities have been

showcased through the following 5

projects: 1. Annual Gathering in

Bradford June; 2. Co-operative Congress

in Windsor July; 3. Co-operative

Education Conference in Northampton

July. 4. Envision event in London

(November), 5. Steering Group activity

has been showcased on the NYA

website.

2. Commission a thorough

quantitative and qualitative

external evaluation of the

project. Reports circulated to

100 youth organisations.

Begin in six

months

Cadence/LandE were commissioned as

the external evaluators for this

programme. Evaluation activities have

been undertaken as outlined in this

report.

3. Participate actively in the

‘Participation Works’ & ‘Hear

by Right’ networks

Ongoing Woodcraft Folk project workers have

regularly attended and contributed to

these networks.

4. Produce 20 printed good

practice case studies

Four per annum 2 case studies have been completed.

The shortfall will be made up over the

next 4 years.

36

8 Analysis of progress against project plan and milestones for year 1

An outline work programme was produced at the start of the project that was summarised

as a five year Gantt chart covering 107 individual tasks. For the first year this was broken

down in detail showing anticipated progress month by month. The chart also indicated

which team member carried responsibility for ensuring the completion of each task (not

surprisingly responsibilities for delivery have adapted over the year in the light of changing

circumstances).

The tasks were categorised under seven headings:

1. Project Management

2. Marketing and Communications

3. Outcome 1 – More young people involved with Woodcraft Folk

4. Outcome 2 – More disabled young people involved with Woodcraft Folk

5. Outcome 3 – More and better involvement of young people in Woodcraft Folk

decision making

6. Outcome 4 – More young people involved in volunteering roles

7. Outcome 5 – Sharing good practice and experience

The team members have all reviewed progress in relation to the work programme Gantt

chart. This enabled us to prepare a Gantt chart showing actual delivery compared to

planned delivery. Some of our main observations and comments are provided below:

8.1 Project Management

Our overall analysis of project management arrangements were covered in section 4 above.

In relation to the specific work programme we noted that:

o In the main, tasks relating to project management were completed in line with the

projected timeframe

o Following Debs’ taking of maternity leave her project management responsibilities

were shared between other team members. This appears to have worked well

enough and most project management tasks have been completed as required.

o The review of partnership arrangements with the NYA was brought forward from

March 2010 to October 2009 following which the formal partnership was dissolved.

This was due to a change in the NYA’s fee-charging structure which priced the small

proportion of their work scheduled after 31st

March 2010 beyond the project’s

means. The TREE management team assessed the impact of the NYA contribution

and have made plans to cover the loss of the NYA’s projected contribution.

8.2 Marketing and Communications

The main tasks within this category were around establishing a youth advisory group,

producing regular newsletters and developing and launching a TREE/Woodcraft Folk web-

site:

37

o Overall, marketing and communications tasks have been successfully completed. An

active and successful Youth Comms Group has been established; regular newsletters

(TREEmail) have been produced and widely distributed by the Youth Comms Group.

o The web-site has taken far longer to set up than originally planned. It was originally

targeted for launch in September 2009 but the launch has not yet taken place (June

1st

2010).

We also met with the Youth Comms Group on 20th

Feb 2010 at the Quaker Meeting House

in Sale, Manchester. The notes from the session can be found in the box below:

TREE Comms Group – Evaluation Session

The Comms Group had split into two groups for the day. One group was involved with

planning for the national campaign and the other was working on designs for “transition

materials” with the aim of helping members to easily move from, say, Pioneers to

Venturers. We ran a session with the “transitional materials” group in the middle of the day

but also saw the “national campaign” group working. It was clear that both groups were

working hard and effectively on their tasks, that they knew what was required of them and

that they were working well as cooperative teams.

Some things they liked about Woodcraft

• Camping, outdoor activities and the regular local WCF sessions

• Attending events and meeting WCF groups from all across the country

• Building friendships with like-minded young people

• Meeting new people

• Being treated with respect and having their opinions valued

• Opportunities to get involved with planning and making changes in WCF

Why TREE is important

Following discussions about why TREE is important and what things were most important

the group thought that the most important aspects were (in priority order):

1. It will keep more young people active in the Woodcraft Folk e.g. from Elfins to DFs

2. It will support more young people to lead WCF groups and events

3. It will mean more young people can get involved with the WCF

4. It will provide new materials to attract young people and helpers to join local WCF

groups

5. It will provide training in youth leadership and inclusion issues e.g. how to help more

disabled young people to get involved with WCF

6. It will help to involve a greater diversity of young people in WCF activities e.g. more

opportunities for disabled young people

38

Views on the Comms Group

Function and Purpose of Comms Group

Make TREE and Woodcraft Folk

more widely known of

Improve internal communications

within WCF

Run national campaigns

Create and distribute promotional

materials

What have they enjoyed?

The residentials

Getting stuff done! Being productive

and useful

The social side – it’s fun and the

company is good!

Its empowering for us – the

freedom to do it our way

Some notable achievements

Getting the group established and

working

Agreeing what needs to be done –

getting a work plan sorted

The organisation behind the group –

thanks Chloe!

Difficulties/room for improvement

Getting good communication

systems established and keeping in

contact between meetings

Getting the web-site sorted and on-

line. It will be great when it is up

and running!

Quick questionnaire

Agree Disagree Not sure

I understand the main things that TREE is trying to

achieve for the Woodcraft Folk

2 1

I understand my role on the Comms Group

3

I know who to ask if I have a question about TREE and

the Comms Group

3

I enjoy taking part in the Comms Group

2 15

I find some things about TREE and the Comms Group

work difficult to understand

3

I find some of the Comms Group work boring

3

I don’t always know who to ask for support and help

3

I could do with some training to help me with my work

on the Comms Group

3

5 The only time I don’t enjoy it is when we don’t get things done

39

Ideas for Improvement

• Make sure we have enough time to get things done – sometimes we are a bit rushed

• Need more residentials or arrive on Friday - start work on Friday evening and work

all day Saturday

• Set up more web-based communications between events e.g. via Wave (Google)

• Provide laptops and internet connections at Comms Group sessions – we could get

more done

Our observation of the Comms Group and our discussions with them and other stakeholders

led to conclude that they were a committed and effective group, working well together,

guided by a clear brief and with a good understanding of their role and tasks. The

establishment of this group and their initial work is one of the notable successes of year

one.

8.3 Outcome 1 – More young people involved with Woodcraft Folk

The main tasks within this category in year 1 were to involve young people in designing and

producing “transitional” materials” with the aim of encouraging Woodcraft Folk Pioneers to

stay involved with Woodcraft by becoming Venturers. In addition posters, leaflets etc were

to be produced and training provided for potential new groups (along with support to any

new groups established). Finally, a Local Action Group panel was to be established in

preparation for the roll out of this initiative in Year 2.

o The youth Comms Group has been established and has produced transitional

materials as planned

o Posters and leaflets were produced by the Better Known & Understood working

group, a group of General Council members who plan and deliver activities to meet

this BIG aim.

o Introducing Woodcraft training has been provided and support provided to new

groups

o Young people have been recruited to a Local Action Project panel

o In addition a task originally planned for year 2 was brought forward, that is, to

enable young people to run a joint DF and Venturer camp (July 2009).

8.4 Outcome 2 – More disabled young people involved with Woodcraft Folk

The tasks in year 1 were to develop improved systems for the demographic monitoring of

Woodcraft Folk members; work with the National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS); and

involving young people in agreeing and developing a national campaign for the Woodcraft

Folk.

o The team has reported that demographic monitoring systems have been developed

and put into use for members, groups and events as scheduled but we are not

currently clear how this works in practice.

o The review and updating of the membership database was programmed for

completion in August 09 but as of March 22nd

we are not sure if has been finished.

40

Access to this information is important in terms of demographic monitoring and the

new system should be introduced as a matter of priority.

o The work with the NDCS has been successfully delivered as planned.

o Disability Awareness training was brought forward from year 2 to commence in year

1

o The Steering Group has worked effectively on the national campaign which is to be

based on highlighting issues faced by Refugees and Asylum Seekers

8.5 Outcome 3 – More and better involvement of young people in Woodcraft Folk decision making

In year one the plan was to undertake a major consultation process with young people and

to develop a strategic Participation Plan for TREE. The programme also included the

development of Follow the Trail which is the Woodcraft Folk’s adaption of the NYA’s quality

framework for youth participation Hear by Right. The third key element was for the Co-op

College to develop training materials and training for Woodcraft Folk mentors and trainers.

o The consultation with young people and the production of a Participation Plan was

successfully completed

o Follow the Trail has been developed with the NYA for use by Venturer groups and

supporting materials have been produced. Training for adult volunteers has also

been delivered as planned.

o The training materials from the Co-op College were produced later than originally

planned (March rather than January 2010) and the training for Woodcraft Folk

trainers has slipped into year 2.

8.6 Outcome 4 – More young people involved in volunteering roles

In year one the main tasks towards this outcome were to begin promotion of volunteering

opportunities and to recruit young people to lead the volunteer campaign; work with the

Co-op College to develop course materials and accreditation systems; and the initial

recruitment of and support for Young Trainers and Quality Champions.

o Promotion of volunteering opportunities has begun, as has recruitment of young

leaders for the campaign.

o The co-op’s development of course materials was delayed but completed and

accreditation systems have been devised.

o The recruitment of Young Trainers and Quality Champions is significantly behind

schedule and should become a priority for early in year 2.

8.7 Outcome 5 – Sharing good practice and experience This outcome covered external evaluation; collection of case studies, examples of good

practice, and the establishment of a digital archive and library of good practice; networking

41

through Participation Works and Hear by Right; and showcasing of Woodcraft Folk/TREE

good practice (internal and external)6.

o External evaluation has been secured and is being provided by Cadence/ LandE

o It has proved difficult to gather good practice examples from WCF groups but the

process has begun. Two case studies have been produced in Year 1.

o A digital archive has been established.

o Networking and sharing experiences through Participation Works and Hear by Right

groups has taken place as planned.

o There has been some showcasing at internal and external events but less than

anticipated.

6 The Gantt chart also includes reference to establishing and promoting a good

practice library in year one but this is actually a task for year 2 according to the

Milestones submitted to BIG.

42

9 Conclusions and Recommendations

9.1 Strengths and Achievements

Overall we have been impressed that the team is making very good progress with the TREE

programme of work. Some notable achievements so far have been:

• A comprehensive national consultation and engagement process with young people

in the WCF. This involved a programme of visits to groups and WCF events across the

country and running a series of “workshops” with young people to understand how

they are currently involved with decision making, and to gather their views on what

TREE could do to help improve this.

• The engagement of over 500 young people through the above process

• The reports and detailed action plans derived from the above process (e.g. Youth

Participation Strategy and Participation Plan).

• Convening and supporting the TREE Steering Group and Youth Comms Group

• Promotional activity for the 2009 Annual Gathering

• Creation of e-mail lists to aid communications

• An effective Comms Group residential that successfully formulated plans for the

future

• Producing 3 editions of TREEmail – the TREE newsletter

• Work on “transitional” resources to ease moving from one level of WCF to another

e.g. Pioneers to Venturers

• Work towards the development of the new WCF/TREE web-site

• Process for deciding the first national Campaign theme (refugees and asylum

seekers).

• Convening a national taster camp by District Fellow for Venturers

Our impression is that the TREE Team is working well with all members of the team having

clear roles and being supported through good internal communications. Given that the

team are based at three different locations this is a very positive start.

9.2 Challenges and Risks

With the stakeholders we have identified a number of challenges and some of these are

noted below. Alongside the challenges/risks are some of the suggestions put forward by

which the challenges could be addressed.

43

Challenge/Risk Mitigation

Providing effective Project Management for

TREE

Establish a small project board to monitor

progress regularly against a detailed Y2

project plan (Gantt chart) and to take

necessary decisions to keep project on track.

Leaders and volunteers being too busy to

take up TREE opportunities. Dependence on

small number of active volunteers etc who

have limited time. Work often falls on a few

key people.

Publicity to promote benefits of getting

involved – e.g. newly trained local helpers

could reduce pressure on leaders.

Gains made through TREE may not be

sustainable after BIG funding has run out

Early planning for a continuation strategy

that is reviewed as the project develops

Communication systems not being effective

in getting information out to volunteers,

children and young people.

Identify blockages and devise systems to

eliminate/reduce impact

Inclusion – ensuring that TREE is successful

in increasing participation in sectors like

disabled children and BME

Getting advice from others who have been

successful in this respect.

Perception that WCF is stereotypically for

“white middle class liberals” – others may

think it is not for them

Big Comms task to break down this

perception. Use the Community Action

Projects to create links with local BME and

disability groups

Resistance to change from long-standing

WCF leaders/volunteers. Resistance from

some local groups to Quality Assurance

schemes and monitoring material asked of

by WCF national.

Ensure such leaders/volunteers are actively

involved and understand TREE.

Delivering a “national” project effectively

across hundreds of small local groups.

Good communication and promote how

TREE has helped at the local level

Widening leadership beyond those Chilwho

are already active and involved.

Good training re participation etc

Getting the balance right between what the

organisation wants to achieve and what

young people want

Ensure children and young people are really

leading – support and development to the

Steering and Comms Groups

Managing partnership working effectively Ensure regular and effective

communications with all partners – create

and review written partnership agreements.

TREE being seen as a centrally driven scheme

creating more work for local groups (rather

than providing support to them!).Perception

that TREE is demanding of local groups

rather than supporting them

Create case studies showing how TREE has

helped at the local level

There may be a risk that the requirement to

meet very defined outputs and outcomes for

BIG means that TREE cannot respond flexibly

to unexpected ideas/opportunities that

come up during the lifetime of the project.

Establish good relationship with BIG. Use the

potential for flexibility in current definition

of output, while meeting the top line

headings that BIG may not agree to change.

Continue to be clear with the Steering Group

that TREE want them to take ownership &

44

9.3 Suggestions and Recommendations

Some specific suggestions and recommendations arising from our Year 1 Evaluation are

provided below:

Some Suggestions

Woodcraft Folk Groups could be invited to write to HQ about a favourite activity and include

pictures to go in a printed brochure or on a page of the Woodcraft website. The brochure

would act as an “ideas pool” where groups could both give and receive advice for running

tried and tested activities. It would be a brilliant way to increase communication between

groups and to encourage groups to recognise their own successes.

A directory of local projects and organisations could be produced for each district so that

groups might easily identify local opportunities in which to get involved. Not only could

involvement in the wider community be interesting and fun, it could also be a great way to

showcase what WCF is all about; increasing public knowledge and understanding of the

movement and essentially promoting WCF.

The TREE project manager could set up a simple quarterly monitoring system for the

individual milestones with a simple traffic light system to provide early warning of any

delays. That is for each milestone provide a RED, AMBER, or GREEN rating in relation to

achievement (and take action accordingly!).

Recommendations

1. A small project board should be established that could be comprised of, say:

• The project manager (The WCF Membership Development Manager).

• The WCF chief executive

• One other member of the TREE delivery Team

• An external partner e.g. the Co-operative College

• A WCF General Council member

• A Steering Group Member

shape things as they like, but that this must

be done within the boundaries set by the

outcomes that BIG requires.

Expectation within WCF for things that TREE

can finance might not affordable or allowed

in the budget (e.g. can’t buy land as that’s

capital and not revenue).

Essential that the team communicate clearly

about what is possible and what not.

As WCF is such a huge organisation there are

a lot of individual people to reach: it is hard

to have a training impact on them all.

Be realistic about achievable targets.

45

This group would have specific responsibility for the more technical monitoring of

progress, financial management and task management. The project board would

report to the General Council and receive updates from the Steering Group and TREE

delivery team.

2. A detailed Gantt chart should be prepared to cover year 2 of the project. Additionally

a cash flow projection should be prepared and monitored bi-monthly.

3. Partnership Agreements should be drawn up in relation to each partners’

involvement to clarify roles and responsibilities.

4. The TREE Team need should maintain effective regular communications with the

partners to ensure their commitment and the engagement maximises the potential

of the partners to contribute to TREE’s success.

5. The TREE Team should identify the specific factors which have led to identified

milestones in Year 1 not being met e.g. the recruitment of young trainers and quality

champions. This will ensure any ground lost can be regained in year 2 and may help

to ensure similar occurrences do not occur in subsequent years.

6. The membership database system should be designed so that information relevant

to the 5 Project outcomes is straightforward to extract. For example, demographic

details, disability information, and the numbers of adult helpers and leaders

(including a breakdown between men and women).

7. The TREE project team should supply Cadence/LandE with a quarterly list and

contact details for all the individual groups that have had direct contact with TREE or

the TREE Team members over that period. This would enable us to secure targeted

feedback on benefits, quality of service etc

8. The TREE project team should supply Cadence/LandE with broad detail of

membership numbers over as long a period as is available. This would enable us to

plot trends in membership over, say, the last 10 years and to see whether any TREE

appears to be making any changes. For example, anecdotally local WCF groups have

suggested that membership has been falling slowly over the years so should TREE

succeed in raising numbers of members this would clearly demonstrate a significant

impact.

9. Review elements of the overall detailed (numerical and percent based) targets

within the 5 project outcomes to assess whether they are genuinely realistic in the

light of experience gained in year one. For example Outcome 1 would seem to be

dependent upon achieving significant increases in overall membership of the

Woodraft Folk and Objective 2 projects significant increases in the numbers of

46

disabled Woodcraft members which is also very ambitious7. Amend targets if

necessary in agreement with BIG.

10. The TREE project team and Steering Group should identify, in liaison with

Cadence/LandE, at least two “reserve” Woodcraft groups for the shadowing element

of the evaluation in case any of the current groups withdraw or cease running.

11. TREE should focus on providing detailed evidence of its contribution to two of the

four measures of “National Significance” (see below) rather than attempt to cover all

4 aspects.

A. Test new ways of doing things on a national scale

B. Have the potential for widespread replication

C. Influence national policy and practice

D. Set national standards of best practice.

12. The TREE project team and Steering Group should consider reviewing

Cadence/LandE’s year two evaluation work so as to cover two additional elements8:

• Preparing a number of case studies demonstrating good practice in relation

to TREE and the Woodcraft Folk

• Researching relevant good practice from elsewhere (national and

international) from which the TREE project could benefit and making

recommendations as to how lessons learned could benefit TREE.

7 It may of course be concluded that all the targets are still realistically achievable in which case the process

will reinforce confidence and commitment. 8 This would mean reducing some time spent on other aspects of the evaluation process